Thin-Film light emitting devices, including thin-film flip-chip devices, are conventionally tested, singulated (diced), then attached to a submount, typically via a pick-and-place process that attaches hundreds of light emitting dies on the submount. The submount provides the structure required to support the individual light emitting dies, and the electrical circuitry that allows an external power source to be coupled to the light emitting dies. The submount also allows for subsequent processes, such as lamination and encapsulation, to be applied to all of the devices on the submount concurrently, significantly reducing fabrication costs. After such processing, the submount with finished light emitting devices is subsequently sliced/diced (“singulated”) to produce individual light emitting devices that can be placed in lamps, attached to printed circuit boards, and so on.
The singulation of the light emitting devices on the submount, however, is hampered by the structural support provided by the submount. The slicing apparatus must be able to cut through the submount, and a submount that is sufficiently thick and/or rigid to structurally support a group of light emitting devices through the lamination process is more difficult to slice than a non-structural substrate.